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Thursday, April 19, 2012

More Candidate Info from the Board

Mr. Banda will be in Seattle on April 23-24, Mr. Enoch on April 24-25 and Dr. Husk on April 25-26.

The public can offer feedback to the School Board at schoolboard@seattleschools.org.

Jose L. Banda
Last four years as super for Anaheim City School district with 20k students. From the media release:

Mr. Banda also developed strong relationships with the business community, city government and service organizations, as evidenced by an innovative math partnership with the MIND Institute and the successful passage of a $170 million construction bond in 2010.

Mr. Banda spent 13 years as a secondary administrator, including eight years as a high school principal before becoming the Superintendent of the Planada School District from 2002-2005. Before Anaheim, Mr. Banda was the Deputy Superintendent at Oceanside Unified School District. He has also served as a high school counselor, Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources and board member for Salida Union School District. He brings over 30 years of experience in the field of education.

Mr. Banda is fluent in Spanish and holds a Bachelor of Arts from California State University in Bakersfield and a Master’s in Educational Leadership from Chapman University.

Steven W. Enoch
Last four years as superintendent of 30k student San Ramon Valley Unified School District.

During this time, the District experienced continuous academic improvement, becoming the top-achieving large school district in the state of California.

Under Mr. Enoch’s leadership, the District changed teaching and learning through a massive infusion of technology and community partnerships in support of Career and Technical Education (CTE) and Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM).

Mr. Enoch spent 13 years as a principal in California before becoming the Superintendent of the San Juan Island School District in Friday Harbor, Wash., where he served for seven years. He also served as Superintendent of the Mead, Wash. School District from 2002-2005. Before working in San Ramon, Mr. Enoch was the Superintendent at San Juan Unified School District, a 45,000-student district in Sacramento, Calif.

Dr. Sandra L. Husk
Last six years as superintendent of the 40k Salem-Keizer School district in Oregon.

Dr. Husk started her career as an elementary counselor and teacher in the St. Vrain Valley School District in Colorado. She has been a Superintendent since 1996, first at Mapleton Public Schools in Denver and then at Clarksville Montgomery County School System in Tennessee from 2001-2006.

First impressions:

Husk has worked at the biggest district as superintendent but I'd have to check the size where the other two have worked prevously in other jobs.

Enoch has a local connection having been at Friday Harbor.

I like that Blanda is bi-lingual. It brings something good to the table.

All of them worked in schools as either a teacher or counselor or principal.

The media will be having 15-minute (too short!) interviews with all three candidates separately next week.

My first impression is that I see a lot of business-speak in Dr. Husk's resume. The "focus on teacher quality" feels like MGJ, but I may be reading to much into it. Regardless, short on specifics and long on platitudes. Plus side, she was a counselor for a while. Minus side, maybe lots of weird personal issues?

On a much more positive note, I very much like Mr. Enoch's tech and community partnerships for STEM and CTE. On eof my co-workers lived in Friday Harbor during his tenure--I'll get as much scoop as I can from her.

Mr. Banda is another interesting person. I like the bilingual aspect. I'd like to know more about the MIND institute. "Innovative math partnership" could be good or bad, depending.

I am disappointed none of the finalists are local and, for all of them, a major city like Seattle looks like it would be bigger than what they have ever done. Not only am I worried they might have a hard time with the bigger job, but also I am worried that this might just be a career stepping stone for them, no real investment in the success of Seattle.

Should I be concerned? Are those legitimate? And is it really true there were no good local candidates for the job?

David, we won't ever know if there were local unless they say it outloud. I know of one person in a district south of Seattle who did apply but I don't think it worth saying who it was now.

I think Seattle's an interesting gig for all of them. I'm a little worried about Mr. Enoch (pronounced E-knock) since he announced his retirement and now he's not retiring. I worry he might not want to stay for more than a couple of years and we don't need a fixer, we need a long-term leader. I'll be interested to see what he says on this topic.

I for one would welcome a good, competent "fixer" for a few years. Do a decent job of things, treat people with integrity, get the train back on the track, don't have officials producing flagrant screwups and scandals every month.

I agree with Steveroo -- someone who is a great "fixer," and who sees Seattle as a last, good, challenging position in a long career could be a great leader here. If we actually spent time "fixing" our real problems (rather than creating expensive new ones and ignoring the ones we already have), we could free the great teachers and families in this District to actually make some progress.

Hate to say it -- but my spidey senses are going off about Dr. Husk. I need to sit on them a little and wait to hear more, but the combination of "business-speak generalities," Harvard-training, -- it all sounds a little too "ed-reformy/MGJ-ish" to me. We have our hands full right now with a number of specifically local issues (capacity management, APP/Spectrum, Special Ed, improvement of South end schools, etc,) We do NOT need yet another out-of-towner to ride in with a big bag of strategic plan ideas that don't work, and at the same time, suck up all the available time and energy so we can't focus on finding the time, money, and public goodwill to solve our REAL problems. She also sounds to me like she would me more susceptible than either of the others to the "whisperings" and "coaching" of the local ed reform crowd (one of Dr. E's issues, I think -- she wasn't sufficiently experienced and grounded to tell them to shove it, if their goals didn't line up with hers and the Board's).

Out of all the candidates, Enoch actually has experience with a school district the size or larger than Seattle with his time at the San Juan School District in Sacramento (this is different that his time at San Juan Island). This is a 45,000 student district that encompassed a wide range of social-economic levels and minorities. I say he has the most experience and a proven track record.

Melissa -- I share your suspicion. Here's hoping that others on the board who think NTN, reform math, "best business practices," etc., are worth looking into, and will think deeply about what the District really needs. Remember -- even with the last board, MGJ was not their first choice. She was the only one left standing after withdrawals, and they either lacked the energy or the courage to restart the process and do it right. Boy -- did we pay for that!

Of these, I agree that Enoch looks best (ran a complicated large district with high test scores, retiring so motivated by helping Seattle not career stepping stone, local connection because of past work at Friday Harbor).

Still disappointed, though, that we have no one already living in Seattle as a finalist.

Education Acroynms

Advanced Learning - SPS' three-tier program for advanced learners. Made up of APP, Spectrum and ALOs. (Note: the name of the district program is "Advanced Learning Services and Programs" but these three programs fall under "Highly Capable Services" of AL Services and Programs.

ALO - Advanced Learning Opportunity, the third tier of SPS' Advanced Learning program

AP - Advanced Placement. A national program of college-level classes given in high schools.

APP - Accelerated Progress Program. One of the levels of the Advanced Learning Program. NOTE: the name of this program is now "HIGHLY CAPABLE COHORT." This change occurred in 2014.

ASB - Associated Student Body. High school leadership groups.

AYP - Adequate Yearly Progress. Part of NCLB.

BEX - Building Excellence. SPS' capital renovation/rebuilding program that is funded via the BEX levy. Every 3 years there is the Operations levy and either the BEX or BTA levies as those two levies rotate in six year cycles).

BLT - Building Leadership Team. Staff members at a school who meet regularly to discuss building issues.

BTA - Buildings, Technology, Academics. The major maintenance/other capital fund for SPS. Originally BTA was to cover major maintenance like HVAC (heating, ventilation, air conditioning), roofs, waterlines, etc.) but now covers wide swaths of items like athletic fields, technology and funding academic needs.

CAICEE - Community Advisory Committee for Investing in Educational Excellence. Created by former Superintendent Manhas in 2008, to issue a report about reform recommendations for SPS.

CSIP - Continuous School Improvement Plan, the plan for improvement for each school as required by state law.

EOC - End of Course Assessments, given in math and science, required for high school graduationESEA - Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the federal law that governs education, includes the NCLB accountability provisions.

e-STEM or e-STEAM - STEM or STEAM curriculum with an environmental focus.

FACMAC - Facilities and Capacity Management Advisory Committee. A district committee comprises of an all-volunteer citizen group created in 2012 to help bring research and ideas to capacity management issues in the district.

FERPA - Family Education Rights and Privacy Act. A federal law that protects students' privacy

FRL - Free and reduced lunch.

FTE - Full Time Equivalent

FY - Fiscal Year

Highly Capable Services - NEW name (as of 2014) as umbrella name for these programs: Highly Capable Cohort (formerly APP), Spectrum and ALO (Advanced Learning Opportunities).

HSPE - High School Proficiency Exam, state assessment that replaced the WASL for 10th graders, required for graduation

HQT - Highly Qualified Teacher, a standard set by federal law

IA - Instructional Assistant

IB - International Baccalaureate program. An international program of advanced classes that can either be taken as stand alone or as part of an overall IB program.

IDEA - Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. The federal law that governs special education

MAP - Measures of Academic Progress. A computer-based adaptive assessment made by NWEA and originally purchased by the district for use as a district-wide formative assessment but now used for a wide variety of purposes.

MSP - Measurement of Student Progress, the state proficiency assessment that replaced the WASL for students in grades 1-8

MTSS - Multi-Tiered Systems of Support

NCLB - No Child Left Behind, a provision of the federal education law, ESEA, introduced during the George W. Bush administration